I want to thank M Smith for joining my Patreon. I would have liked to upload a chapter of the fic he follows, but since I don't know how, all I can do is thank him through this spam.
Okay, I used the first line so you can read it. If it's not too much trouble, could you go to my Patreon and donate for my breakfast? It's not an obligation, and I won't stop uploading; I'm just asking for a little help. Obviously, the Patreon is about three chapters ahead, and if someone donates, I'll make it five chapters ahead. Please be kind. Support this poor soul.
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Just a few days had been enough. For any other mortal, even geniuses like young Goku or Krillin, mastering the flow of Ki and executing a decent Kamehameha was a task that took months, if not years. But for the fifteen-year-old, possessing Energy Synchronization was like having an instruction manual etched directly into his nervous system. Once his human body understood the "frequency" of vital energy, the rest was simply a matter of repetition and fine-tuning.
It was a starry night on the small island of Kame House. The rhythmic sound of the waves crashing against the sand was only drowned out by the booming snores emanating from Master Roshi's room. The old man slept with a smile of pure bliss, probably dreaming of an endless parade of Playboy bunnies.
The teenager walked silently down the wooden hallway, his movements so light that not even the floorboards creaked. Beside him, floating like a tiny bluish spark, was Tohka. The young man stopped in front of the old man's bedside table. There, resting on a stack of magazines, were the "X-ray" glasses, and folded neatly beneath Roshi's pillow, the Cloak of Absolute Refractive Light.
With a swift and precise movement, the boy retrieved both objects. He examined them for a second in the moonlight.
"In the original canon, you didn't have these things, old man..." the young man whispered, a shadow of regret crossing his face. "If I let you have them, you could disrupt the flow of this world too much. Sorry, but the tech party's over."
He stored the artifacts in his pocket dimension. He glanced one last time at the snoring God of Martial Arts and nodded in silent respect. The old man was a complete pervert, but his teachings had solidified the foundation of his human strength in a way no divine miracle could have.
"Mental note number 502," Tohka whispered in her melodious tone, tilting her head slightly. "The Maker has developed tactical kleptomania. He just stole from a defenseless old man while he slept. Internal suggestion: keep an eye on my valuables and my ration of Kinako Bread."
With his conscience conveniently cleansed by that questionable logic, he left the house without making a sound.
"It's not theft, it's preserving the space-time continuum," Kaiju defended himself in an indignant whisper, walking toward her and taking her hand. "And I wouldn't touch your bread, Tohka. Now let's go. I've already gained basic control of my Ki and the Kamehameha," he replied, brushing the sand from his boots. "It's time to go, Tohka. There's still one piece of the life energy puzzle I need to master, and the old man from the Turtle doesn't know how to make it."
Kaiju closed his eyes and, when he opened them, the darkness of the night was reflected in pupils that shone with an intense and deep purple color.
Telekinesis enveloped them both like an invisible bubble. Completely defying gravity, their bodies slowly rose above the island and, with a silent burst of pure speed, shot off into the starry sky, leaving Kame House behind forever.
...
They flew at high altitude, through the cold air currents of the continent's mountains.
"If you already possess the ability to levitate and manipulate gravity through your Celestial Eyes, why is it imperative to seek another human combat instructor?" Tohka asked, floating beside him without the slightest effort.
"Because my eyes consume mana and divine power, Tohka," Kaiju explained, his gaze fixed on the approaching snow-capped peaks. "Telekinesis is powerful, but in a prolonged battle of pure attrition, if I run out of ocular energy or if I face someone who can nullify my magic, I'll become a laughingstock. I need to learn to fly using my own Ki. The Dance of Flight. The Buku-jutsu."
"Understood. We're looking for tactical redundancy," Tohka nodded, processing the strategy. "And who possesses the knowledge of this 'Flight Dance'?"
"The polar opposite of Roshi," Kaiju smiled, spotting in the distance an imposing traditional dojo built atop a mountain as sharp as a needle. "Master Shen. The Crane Hermit."
They landed in the dojo's stone courtyard with a thud. The air here was icy and sharp, a brutal contrast to the tropical paradise they had just left.
Almost immediately, the wooden doors of the dojo burst open. A tall, thin figure, dressed in green and yellow robes, stepped into the courtyard. He wore a peculiar hat topped with a crane's head and small, round sunglasses. His face, marked by age, reflected a cruelty and arrogance that Roshi would never possess.
"Who are you, insolent brats, and how dare you tread on the sacred ground of the Crane School?" hissed Master Shen, crossing his hands inside his sleeves.
Tohka made a move to materialize Sandalphon to slice the mountain in half in protest against the disrespect shown to her Creator, but Kaiju raised a hand, stopping her. It was time to act.
Kaiju stepped forward and performed a traditional bow, though his eyes retained a calculating gleam.
"Greetings, Grand Master Shen," Kaiju began, modulating his voice to sound like a young martial artist seeking answers. "My name is Kaiju. Until a few days ago, I was a student under Master Roshi of the Turtle School."
The air froze faster than the snow around them. Shen's face contorted into a mask of pure disgust and hatred at the sound of that name.
"A disciple of that decrepit, pathetic old Turtle?" Shen spat, releasing a fraction of his murderous Ki. "You have the nerve to come here, kid! I should kill you right now for insulting my eyes!"
"I could try!" Kaiju interrupted, raising his voice with feigned conviction, staring unblinkingly into his eyes. "But I came here precisely because I realized Roshi is a fraud!"
Shen stopped his aura mid-flight, blinking behind his dark glasses. "A fraud, you say?"
"A master stuck in the past!" Kaiju continued, gesturing in frustration, toying with the old man's ego. "He did teach me how to channel my Ki, yes. But when I asked him how I could take my training to the next level... how I could rise above my enemies, he just laughed. I realized that the Turtle School is doomed to crawl on the ground like an insect."
Kaiju took another step, his voice dripping with venom and admiration in equal measure.
—I heard rumors. Legends that true martial superiority doesn't reside on an island, but here in the mountains. That the Crane School... can soar through the skies.
Shen straightened up. His hands slipped from his sleeves to slowly stroke his long, thin white mustache. His monstrously large ego was inflating at catastrophic speeds in the face of the flattery and the direct insults directed at his eternal rival.
"So you figured out the Turtle's fundamental weakness, huh? You've got a good eye, brat," Shen said, a sharp, malicious smile spreading across his face. "The flying technique, Buku-jutsu, is the absolute treasure of our school. Something that useless Roshi will never master, not even if he lives a thousand years."
Kaiju bowed slightly again, in a show of false but impeccable respect.
"Master Shen, teach me the Flying Dance using Ki," Kaiju pleaded firmly. "If you do, I promise that the next time I cross paths with Master Roshi, I will hover above his bald head and demonstrate to the entire world that the Crane's teachings mercilessly crush those of the Turtle. I will be the weapon that humiliates his legacy before his very eyes."
Shen's eyes shone with pure sadistic delight.
The mere thought of seeing a former student of Roshi's using Crane Techniques to publicly humiliate the old turtle was too sweet a temptation, too wicked to pass up. It was the perfect poetic revenge.
"Hahaha! I like you, you ruthless brat!" Shen laughed, turning his back on him and striding high into the dark dojo. "Very well. I'll teach you Buku-jutsu. But be warned, Crane training will break your bones if you're weak! There's no room for mercy here!"
Kaiju smiled slightly, a predatory smile that went unnoticed by the master.
"Don't worry, Master Shen," Kaiju whispered, following him into the dojo as Tohka silently levitated behind him. "I detest pity."
He had used the weaknesses of the two greatest masters in this world against them: Roshi's perversion and Shen's arrogance. With Buku-jutsu in his repertoire, his mastery over his own human energy would finally be complete.
...
Learning the Dance of the Sky (Buku Jutsu) turned out to be a diametrically opposed experience to his telekinesis exercises.
When Kaiju used the purple color of its Celestial Eyes to fly, the sensation was identical to being held by invisible strings manipulated by a perfect puppeteer. It was an external power, unaffected by its physical fatigue. However, flying using its own Ki required channeling its life energy outward from its body, pushing against air and gravity in a constant and delicate balance. It was like trying to swim upward in a pool of mercury.
But Kaiju was no ordinary human. He was a prodigy with a body molded by divine energy and trained by Master Roshi himself.
It took him exactly two days.
At dusk on the second day, the sky above the craggy Crane School dojo was streaked with white trails. Kaiju flew at supersonic speeds, making sharp turns, free falls, and vertical ascents that broke the sound barrier, leaving sonic booms that rattled the temple windows. Its body was enveloped in a thin, controlled aura of white Ki.
Down below, in the stone courtyard, Master Shen watched, his mouth slightly agape, sweating profusely. His initial arrogance had been crushed and replaced by utter terror. Never in his life had he seen a child master such an advanced technique in just forty-eight hours.
Kaiju swooped down and landed softly in front of the old man, without raising a single speck of dust. He wasn't panting. His control was perfect.
"It's fascinating, Master Shen," said Kaiju, bowing deeply to feed the old man's inflated ego. "Flight with Ki grants physical maneuverability that far surpasses any other technique. He was right. Master Roshi is a charlatan stuck on the ground. The Crane School truly rules the skies."
Master Shen swallowed, but quickly regained his arrogant composure, crossing his arms and letting out a raspy laugh. "Hahaha! Of course you are, boy! Now you see the truth! You're a genius, I admit it. With a couple more years under my tutelage, you could become the greatest assassin in the..."
"Unfortunately, my time here has come to an end," Kaiju interrupted, raising his hand politely. "I have learned what I came here to find. I thank you for your hospitality and wisdom, Master Shen. May your school continue to prosper."
Before Shen could protest or demand that she stay, Kaiju turned away. Tohka, who had been sitting on the edge of the dojo roof reading, floated calmly to her side.
"Shall we go now, Kaiju?" she asked, closing her book.
—Yes. The Earth is already too small for what's next —he replied.
Kaiju extended his right hand into the empty space before them. He didn't use his eyes for this; instead, he channeled his newly mastered Ki combined with a light touch of his spatial mana. With a swift motion, as if drawing back stage curtains, Kaiju literally tore the fabric of reality.
A dimensional rift with irregular edges and starry darkness appeared in the middle of the courtyard.
Master Shen fell backward, pale as a ghost, as he watched a thirteen-year-old boy tear through space-time as if it were paper. Kaiju and Tohka didn't even look back; they simply stepped into the stellar void, and the rift closed behind them with a dull click, leaving the Crane Hermit questioning his own sanity.
...
The journey through the portal was instantaneous. They weren't going to another dimension this time; Kaiju had simply "folded" the local universe to leap trillions of kilometers across the cosmos to very specific coordinates in the afterlife.
They came out on the other side.
The moment Kaiju's boot touched the ground, he felt as if a twenty-story building had fallen directly on his shoulders.
"Ghk!" Kaiju let out a muffled groan, his knees buckled violently, and he landed on all fours on a patch of soft grass. The air was abruptly expelled from his lungs. Trying to lift his head felt like trying to lift a ton of lead with his neck.
Beside her, Tohka landed with her usual lightness and grace. The extreme force of gravity didn't affect her at all; her body was made of compressed lunar energy and sustained by passive levitation magic.
She looked down, watching as her Creator sweated profusely just to keep his arms outstretched and not smash his face against the ground.
—Mental note number 8502— Tohka dictated, her melodious voice echoing in the unusually dense air. —We have arrived at a planetoid with a mass absurdly disproportionate to its size. The gravitational pull is exactly ten times greater than that of standard Earth. The Creator is experiencing a systemic failure in its motor resistance.
"N-no... it's not a mistake..." Kaiju gasped, gritting his teeth. The veins in his neck and forehead throbbed alarmingly. He channeled his Ki, forcing his muscles to resist the crushing pressure. "It's... exactly what I was looking for!"
Kaiju slowly raised his gaze, fighting against the invisible force that was trying to bury him alive.
They were on a tiny planet, so small that the curvature of the horizon was visible to the naked eye. The sky above them wasn't blue or dark, but a vibrant and strange yellow, dotted with pink clouds. There was a small brick road that circled the entire globe, a few round trees, and, a few meters away, a quaint little dome-shaped house next to an old car.
It was King Kai's planet. The pinnacle of physical training on this side of the universe.
"Why subject your biological structure to such stress when you can use your eyes to negate gravity?" Tohka asked, genuinely curious, kneeling beside him without the slightest effort.
"Because... my eyes... are my shield." Kaiju managed to get one foot on the ground, pushing with all his might, white Ki exploding around him like a bonfire. "But my body... has to be the sword. If I want to learn the techniques of the gods of this universe... I have to bear their weight!"
With a roar that echoed across the tiny planet, Kaiju managed to stand. His legs trembled spasmodically, and he felt like his heart was going to burst from the effort of pumping blood under 10G, but a deranged, savage, and defiant smile spread across his face.
The hellish training had just reached a new level.